Boy, they could have used some better letterers. That’s some sloppy work. Gaspar Saladino, this guy was not.
LOL Yes, the lettering needs work. As for me though, I love the foreigns that looked "thrown together". Often times there is a cultural and political story embedded in these things.... especially with the Greeks! That story is to heavy to get into at the moment. But, lets just say its not like the publisher had a lot of money or a rabid fan base to work with. I know the translator who worked on these books... he is also the countrywide expert on Western comics reprinted in country. A fascinating dude who I interviewed for a story I worked on.
Superhombre #106 January 1952, Argentina Cover artist Win Mortimer
The interiors were published in black & white,.
Originally published in English in the US as
Superman (Vol 1) #72 September 1951
@bralinator Great cover! Personally I dig it when foreign pubs decide to create color banners at the top! It picture frames the art and some of my favorite foreign editions do this. I know the guy Gonza who you pulled this scan from as well. Great guy! He is one of the top collectors in Argentina, a truly amazing and friendly dude.
So, speaking of that cool picture framing cover alteration! One of my favorite classic Neal Adams covers is the Bats 227. So duh! I knew I had to create a foreign set of this issue. The 2 toughest 227 editions to find are the Arabic and the Aussie. The Australian was published by KG Murray and has a color cover and black and white insides. Why so tough to source you might think? Because the Australian market was a very interesting one in that a huge number of publishers were putting out American material at different times. Most of the time though, these were not full color and cheaper paper was the standard. Because of this the American originals were highly desired. Comic book shop culture also was very prevalent so young Aussie lads had plenty of places to pick up American material unlike in some countries where American books were practically nonexistent. So a huge amount of them would replace their local output collections with the American versions whenever possible. The local books would then be tossed away, given to booger eating little brothers who read them to death, used for art projects, etc etc. Put simply they were not loved and some Aussie collectors who I have talked to even hated and despised them. This has created a market in which you do have a small but dedicated group of Aussie collectors who love them! These forward thinking dudes are always on the lookout grabbing things as soon as they hit the market or even before. Combine this with a high amount of these books not surviving because of attrition and you have a perfect storm of rarity. Now Aussie books are not nearly as rare as say the Filipinos or the Greeks. But, it can be very tough to find certain issues… the Tip Top 98 is a perfect example. I have seen nice copies go for close to 300-400 dollars! Even this copy as ragged as it is still cost me 150 bucks… and took me 4 long years to find a buying op that suited me. It was darn well worth every penny though! When the American Bats 227 in ragged condition can be had for under a hundred bucks you might be wondering why I would pay much more for a later printed foreign edition? Well, besides the fact I already own a Bats 227 my collecting philosophy on foreigns could be another 4 to 5 paragraphs… Im already getting diarrhea of the keyboard so we wont go into it. LOL
This thread has made a very interesting turn, and I like it. Thanks @define999
Thanks bro! Though I worry I may have hijacked the original thread purpose with my long horribly written prose... I can keep the info short if everyone feels it would be better for the flow of the thread?
This thread has made a very interesting turn, and I like it. Thanks @define999
Thanks bro! Though I worry I may have hijacked the original thread purpose with my long horribly written prose... I can keep the info short if everyone feels it would be better for the flow of the thread?
You've not read @nweathington's college dissertations on cover artists. His lessons on Oskner and Nick Cardy are amazing (he literally wrote the book on Cardy).
Superhombre #106 January 1952, Argentina Cover artist Win Mortimer
The interiors were published in black & white,.
Originally published in English in the US as
Superman (Vol 1) #72 September 1951
@bralinator Great cover! Personally I dig it when foreign pubs decide to create color banners at the top! It picture frames the art and some of my favorite foreign editions do this. I know the guy Gonza who you pulled this scan from as well. Great guy! He is one of the top collectors in Argentina, a truly amazing and friendly dude.
I have a few Argentinian comics with José Luis García-López’s pre-American work. They did a really nice job with their comics even back in the early ’70s.
This thread has made a very interesting turn, and I like it. Thanks @define999
Thanks bro! Though I worry I may have hijacked the original thread purpose with my long horribly written prose... I can keep the info short if everyone feels it would be better for the flow of the thread?
You've not read @nweathington's college dissertations on cover artists. His lessons on Oskner and Nick Cardy are amazing (he literally wrote the book on Cardy).
You fit right in.
Aw, shucks. Thanks @mwhitt80. But yes, don’t worry about writing too much. It’s encouraged. The only sort of limitation we try to keep here is try not to post more than two images per post, as it can bog down page-loading time for people on slow networks.
Also, we try not to duplicate covers from previous posts, though at this point it’s inevitable it will happen at times as this thread is several years old now, so don’t worry about it if you do. Though I doubt that will be an issue with you. ;)
Awesome! Thanks for the warm welcome guys… I am by no means an expert in comic history, artists, continuity, or any of that other deep deep nerd knowledge that comes with experience in the hobby. What I can bring to the table is an enthusiasm for comic journalistic pursuits outside the norm. I have been following and researching the foreign niche for more than a minute. I do believe some of what my foreign collecting friends and I have sleuthed out over the years is significant. Some of it might possibly be comic history unknown to 99% of the hobby including most comic journalists in the US at least. I promise that I will try to show things 90% of you probably have never seen. So, Im gonna go ahead and double post today…. what the heck! This Spawn #1 from Thailand is published by Bongkock I believe. Came out in 2003 and has a super sweet dust jacket that hides probably one of the coolest Spawn edition covers I have ever seen. An all magenta colorized cover. When I was waiting for this book to arrive I remember asking my self what types of surprises were in store? Boy I was pleased… that magenta cover is sick! Im thinking it contains the first 5 Spawn issues if memory serves correct so its sorta more a small trade than a comic.
Also, if anyone here on the forum has questions or would like to inquire about dipping ones toes into the foreign niche don't hesitate to PM me or friend me on Facebook. My Facebook account is connected to my profile here.
I have a few Argentinian comics with José Luis García-López’s pre-American work. They did a really nice job with their comics even back in the early ’70s.
Many South American pubs sure did! There is actually some art of his for sale on mercado Argentina at the moment.
Another from my small non-U.S. collection -- this one is a more regular-sized comic (versus the thick stapled digests I posted earlier). All color pages -- a couple Supes stories, plus a Congo Bill story in the back! Copyright is 1979, which sounds about right. I **think** my parents might have brought this one back from Spain, but I bet @define999 will know!
And here's the back cover, just to prove that some things in comics transcend all cultures. ;)
Love it! It very well could have been Spain! See the nice condition? Many Novaro books printed in Mexico that made it to Spain survived a little nicer than their Mexican brethren. Remember that cultural thing? In Mexico comics are put into a category called "quentitos" little kid things basically. Any adult in his right mind would not keep his collection once he became a man…. :( Also, remember that Novaro based out of Mexico city printed comics for the entire Spanish speaking world! They had huge print runs, and you can find Mexican books all over South America, Central America, Mexico and Spain you name it. Now, Novaro did for a time print books for Spain specifically. Consider them Novaro Spanish variants. According to our sources the black plate was swapped similar to the 35 cent variants here in the states and the UK Pences. Printed at almost the exact same time. Its easy to tell if a Novaro was printed for Spain. See graphic below…..
See the difference. Ptas which means Peseta. Also Spanish Novaros have Revista Juvenil in black somewhere on the cover. Revista Juvenil means "youth magazine." If your Novaro has that then you know its a certifiable Spanish Novaro variant. Printed in Mexico city, but meant for Spain. We are not quite sure when the pub stopped printing specifically for the Spanish market? Or maybe it just stopped being apparent on covers. The indicias might have indicators for Spain or Mexico with some later Novaros but we are not fully sure…. cool book!
Thanks, @define999 -- and I'm now thinking that Superman comic may have been brought back from Mexico. I ended up with a chess set from Mexico around that same time... I had forgotten that!
I have a few Argentinian comics with José Luis García-López’s pre-American work. They did a really nice job with their comics even back in the early ’70s.
Many South American pubs sure did! There is actually some art of his for sale on mercado Argentina at the moment.
Which if my math is right comes out to around 233 bucks...
Nice. Wish I had the spare cash. He did his best Argentinian work on that series, “Roland the Corsair,” which ran in D’artagnan. The issues of D’artagnan I have are actually from 1996 and ’97, which were reprinting those stories from the early ’70s.
Aug. 1951: Unlike the past several entries, this month was very difficult. There were a lot of nice covers (some by artists I've already talked about), and a few so-so covers with interesting stories. But in the end I decided to go with Wally Wood’s outstanding cover for Weird Science #10.
First, let’s deal with EC’s numbering. You think Marvel and DC do confusing things with numbering these days? They’ve got nothing on EC. This title began in the fall of 1947 as Happy Houlihans #1. The Houlihans only enjoyed two issues before succumbing to the western craze, and the title was rebranded as Saddle Justice with issue #3 (Spring 1948). But why cash in on one fad when you can cash in on two at once? And so with issue #9 (Nov.-Dec. 1949) the title became Saddle Romances. But then two kids named Harry Harrison (now best known as the author of the Stainless Steel Rat sci-fi novels) and his studiomate and creative partner, Wally Wood, convinced Bill Gaines to publish a science-fiction title, and thus western-romance gave way to Weird Science with issue #12 (May-Jun. 1950). (The same month A Moon, a Girl... Romance became Weird Fantasy.) After four issues under the Weird Science banner, the title changed its numbering, so what would have been Weird Science #16 became Weird Science #5 (Jan.-Feb. 1951). (And just to add to the confusion, three years later Weird Science and Weird Fantasy would merge into Weird Science-Fantasy.)
By the time this cover was produced, Harrison (after many fights with Wood) had left their studio, which was also shared by Joe Orlando and Sid Check. Wood was better off penciling and inking everything himself by now anyway. And it was in the pages of EC’s sci-fi books (primarily) that Wood would become a legend, not just for his exquisite figure work, but for his lush backgrounds. As this cover shows, Wood created alien landscapes and environments that truly stood apart from any other artist (at least until Al Williamson showed up, anyway).
@nweathington Amazingly cool today! Wallys abilities are stunning. It gets me thinking if this EC has a foreign equivalent? I do know some ECs were done by the Mexican pub Sol. I will have to research it!
As a child of the Copper age my bread and butter really derived from classic McFarlane books. The Polish Spiderman 300(Spiderman#4-published by TM Semic in April 1991) took me forever and a day to track down. Im not quite sure why Polish books seem so hard to find but they can drive you crazy. First a little history…. Right as the 90's era began Lech Wałęsa won the presidency in Poland effectively ending communist rule there. After much reforms the borders opened up to western media and Spiderman was finally able to enrich the eyeballs of the Polish youth. Semic which publishes all over Europe must have saw a need, and took advantage of the open borders. Semic published many titles there from my understanding. I believe from my research the most popular was Spiderman and many many blogs can be found on the internet of Polish nationals describing and writing about these books. Maybe they are hard to find because they represent a freedom of ideas for some Pols and they are loath to let them go? Something to take note of is the fact that the 300 lettering of the classic McFarlane artwork made no sense to many foreign pubs as the numbering didn't apply to their runs. Different pubs handled it differently. Semic replaced the 300 with Venoms name in this instence. They did this also with other 300 issues for different Nordic countries the Swedish being another cool example.
Ummmm… lets stay in the Copper age and do another classic! The Swedish MAXX #12, 1986 is a really cool book. A magazine, the classic Miller artwork looks awesome oversized! This book contains the entire limited series if memory serves correct. I have taken this mag to shows and I have to say Wolvie freaks immediately ask me how much I want for it. The classic Logan form with the MAXX title emblazoned on the top just pushes all the right geek buttons I think. Importantly for Dave Stevens freaks MAXX also did a cool Rocketeer cover using the classic bullseye. I can show you guys that one too if you want? All in all MAXX was a cool little Swedish mag….
As we swiftly approach the United States' 240th year of independence, a few patriotic covers seemed appropriate.
Lone Ranger #76 October 1954 Cover by Hank Hartman
As if you needed a reminder that “Dell Comics are good comics!”, look at this gorgeous painted piece that puts the Lone Ranger and Tonto smack dab in the middle of the War Between the States. Dell was justifiably famous for the quality of their covers, and this one was painted by the great Henry Hartman, who was one of the finest cover painters of his day. Just look at the drama of the moment – the weathered face of the soldier in the foreground, the men on attack in the background, and the wonderful way that the logo accentuates the power of the flag behind the Ranger. Of course the Ranger was on the side of the North, because they don’t come much more American than the Lone Ranger.
I think Hartman was better suited to the portraits and landscapes he’s best know for. His comic work, while very well done, can be a bit stiff and lacks the dynamism of some other painters of the time like Mo Gollub. Very nice composition, though.
Comments
January 1952, Argentina
Cover artist Win Mortimer
The interiors were published in black & white,.
Originally published in English in the US as
Superman (Vol 1) #72
September 1951
Great cover! Personally I dig it when foreign pubs decide to create color banners at the top! It picture frames the art and some of my favorite foreign editions do this. I know the guy Gonza who you pulled this scan from as well. Great guy! He is one of the top collectors in Argentina, a truly amazing and friendly dude.
You fit right in.
Also, we try not to duplicate covers from previous posts, though at this point it’s inevitable it will happen at times as this thread is several years old now, so don’t worry about it if you do. Though I doubt that will be an issue with you. ;)
Also, if anyone here on the forum has questions or would like to inquire about dipping ones toes into the foreign niche don't hesitate to PM me or friend me on Facebook. My Facebook account is connected to my profile here.
articulo.mercadolibre.com.ar/MLA-614633579-original-jose-luis-garcia-lopez-el-corsario-fantasia-_JM
Which if my math is right comes out to around 233 bucks...
And here's the back cover, just to prove that some things in comics transcend all cultures. ;)
See the difference. Ptas which means Peseta. Also Spanish Novaros have Revista Juvenil in black somewhere on the cover. Revista Juvenil means "youth magazine." If your Novaro has that then you know its a certifiable Spanish Novaro variant. Printed in Mexico city, but meant for Spain. We are not quite sure when the pub stopped printing specifically for the Spanish market? Or maybe it just stopped being apparent on covers. The indicias might have indicators for Spain or Mexico with some later Novaros but we are not fully sure…. cool book!
First, let’s deal with EC’s numbering. You think Marvel and DC do confusing things with numbering these days? They’ve got nothing on EC. This title began in the fall of 1947 as Happy Houlihans #1. The Houlihans only enjoyed two issues before succumbing to the western craze, and the title was rebranded as Saddle Justice with issue #3 (Spring 1948). But why cash in on one fad when you can cash in on two at once? And so with issue #9 (Nov.-Dec. 1949) the title became Saddle Romances. But then two kids named Harry Harrison (now best known as the author of the Stainless Steel Rat sci-fi novels) and his studiomate and creative partner, Wally Wood, convinced Bill Gaines to publish a science-fiction title, and thus western-romance gave way to Weird Science with issue #12 (May-Jun. 1950). (The same month A Moon, a Girl... Romance became Weird Fantasy.) After four issues under the Weird Science banner, the title changed its numbering, so what would have been Weird Science #16 became Weird Science #5 (Jan.-Feb. 1951). (And just to add to the confusion, three years later Weird Science and Weird Fantasy would merge into Weird Science-Fantasy.)
By the time this cover was produced, Harrison (after many fights with Wood) had left their studio, which was also shared by Joe Orlando and Sid Check. Wood was better off penciling and inking everything himself by now anyway. And it was in the pages of EC’s sci-fi books (primarily) that Wood would become a legend, not just for his exquisite figure work, but for his lush backgrounds. As this cover shows, Wood created alien landscapes and environments that truly stood apart from any other artist (at least until Al Williamson showed up, anyway).
Again I feel like the MAXX title just adds that little something... LOL
Lone Ranger #76
October 1954
Cover by Hank Hartman
As if you needed a reminder that “Dell Comics are good comics!”, look at this gorgeous painted piece that puts the Lone Ranger and Tonto smack dab in the middle of the War Between the States. Dell was justifiably famous for the quality of their covers, and this one was painted by the great Henry Hartman, who was one of the finest cover painters of his day. Just look at the drama of the moment – the weathered face of the soldier in the foreground, the men on attack in the background, and the wonderful way that the logo accentuates the power of the flag behind the Ranger. Of course the Ranger was on the side of the North, because they don’t come much more American than the Lone Ranger.